Where do you find hope in a hopeless world? How do we prepare for our next trial? How do we find joy and happiness in the midst of suffering, or even “persecution, ridicule, tough or shaky times, or just plain heartaches”? 1 Peter 1:13 says, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”. These are strong words, but how do we use these teachings that Peter offered to first century persecuted Christians as 21st century believers who are in seemingly very different circumstances? Or better yet, how do we develop the “loins of our minds” and develop good habits in our thought-life before the difficulties come? How can we be better prepared to honor God, grow in Christ-likeness, and make it so others see more of Christ and less of you and me? Since trials test the genuineness of our Faith, can we get a sneak peak at the test before test time? Welcome to Echoes of Faith, a podcast about God working in our lives today and how His Word impacts our future. In this episode we are turning the tables on you, the listener, as our guest is Caleb Phelps, pastor of Faith Baptist Palm Bay, and I’m Tom Wells, your guest host (we’ll say). This podcast is being released right after Caleb completed a six month sermon series on the book of 1 Peter. We thought this would be a great time for members and regular attendees to reflect on all the many things that Peter taught to those that were the recipients of his letter. And if you haven’t heard the series, you can find it at faithpb.com/sermons . Just click on “series” and pick the one called “Finding Hope in a Hopeless World”.